In comparison to 2022, 2023 felt like less of an accomplishment. There was no college graduation, no cross-country move, no new job. But, all that said, it was a year of growth nonetheless.
On the personal front, I got to attend the Eras Tour (first concert without my parents, which I’ve been told is what truly counts as your first concert—so long claiming High School Musical in Concert as mine!), earned almost 15,000 flight miles traveling between Denver and my friends and family on the East Coast, and celebrated my one-year anniversary in adult ballet. I started teaching creative writing, which has been so incredibly fulfilling for me as both an educator and a writer. I visited Chicago for the first time and continued my cooking journey.
Now, onto the exciting stuff! I had a poem published by Trash to Treasure Lit, “We Talk About Taxes Now.” The poem was my ode to my college friends on graduation day and I’m thrilled it found a home. My short flash piece, “actual thoughts i’ve had emptying the lint trap (or: anxiety dream #293),” was republished in ACC Ink’s Electric Eccentric zine (linking its original publication in Snaggletooth). The issue was inspired by Hurt (more on that below!), so when Craig asked if I had any work to submit, I knew that this piece, with its open depiction of an anxiety thought spiral, was the perfect choice. This was also the first time my words have been published in print which was very cool.
While my publications and submissions were much smaller in 2023 compared to 2022, some new things happened that I want to mention! The first is that I attended my first literary conference, LitFest at Lighthouse Writers’ Workshop. Lighthouse is my current writing home that I joined in January, and LitFest cemented my love for them. The event held every June brings in authors of many genres for weekend intensives and weeklong workshops. I was accepted into an Advanced Fiction Weekend Workshop with Jonathan Escoffery, a Booker Prize nominee for his short story collection If I Survive You. While our workshop was only two days, I was completely invigorated by it. LitFest also gave me the opportunity to attend one-off workshops on historical fiction, poetry, and more, as well as panels on industry news and advice. I even got to meet with an agent and have them review some of my work. I plan to return to LitFest in some capacity this year for another wonderful week surrounded by other writers!
The other new writing decision I made was to submit to my first contest. I submitted a pilot I’ve been working on to the 2023 Roadmap Writers JumpStart Competition. While I did not move forward in the competition, I found the coverage notes encouraging and a useful blueprint for revisions. Based on the positivity of this experience, I think I will continue to submit to contests in 2024.
I also joined the New Play Exchange and uploaded two ten-minute plays to the database. The first one, The Woman Who Destroyed Camelot, is a labor of love I’ve been working on for several years now. I’m currently working on a TV pilot with the same name, but wanted to put my initial idea out there for the world to access. The second is a slightly updated version of my play Carry You Home, which was performed at the 2021 Region 1 Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. I hope that, by making these two pieces available on NPX, that they will be useful resources for theater companies and educational institutions to potentially stage.
Speaking of theater, I directed one show at the beginning of the year and have begun rehearsals for a second. Working with middle schoolers is an utter delight and I’m so enjoying my time as a Theater Teaching Fellow. While I myself did not perform this year, I did audition for my first film!
Now, for the biggest mark of the year: Hurt. When I chose to join the writers’ room in the fall of 2022, I had no idea how fulfilling an experience this journey would be. I penned two episodes for the series’s second season. The first, “Chapter Eleven: Maybe It Can Be Better,” premiered in June, followed by “Chapter Thirteen: The Damage It Does” in July. Getting to see my words come to life on screen was inexplicable. I am so thankful to Craig and Liam for welcoming me with open arms to the writers’ room. I penned two new episodes for Season 3, which will commence production in January 2024.
Looking to this next year, I sense more change on the horizon. I won’t go into detail just yet, but I think—dare I say, even hope?–that it will be a good year. Keep up with me for updates as they roll through over this next trip around the sun.
Happiest of new years,
Olivia